Machine for use in repairing roads



Feb. 16 1926. 1,573,700

E. c. GLEDHILL MACHINE FOR USE IN REPAIRING ROADS Filed Feb. 21, 1924 4 Sheets-Shed?. l

Feb. 16 i926. 1,573,700

E. c. GLEDHILL MACHINE FOR USE IN REPAIRING ROADS Filed Feb. 21, 1924 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 um Hoz www:

Fab. 16 1926. 1,573,700

E. c. GLEDHILI. l

MACHINE FOR USE IN REPAIRING ROADS Filed Feb. 21, 1924 4 sheets-sheet s o; is.

L @ETL o E. C- Zecililb.

Feb. 1s 192s. 1,573,700

' E. C. GLEDHILL MACHINE FOR USE IN REPAIRING ROADS Filed Feb. 21 1924 4 Sheets-Sheet 4.

Patented F eb. 16,1926.

'UNITED' STATES EDWARD C. GLEDHILL, OF GALION, OHIO.

MACHINE FOR USE IN REPAIRING ROADS.

l Application led February 21, 1924. Serial No. 694,423.

T0 all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, EDWARD C. GLEDHILL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Galion, in the county of Crawford and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvement-s in Machines for Use in Repairing Roads, of which the following is a specification.

Thisinvention relates to machines for spreading repair material upon roads and the primary object of the invention is to provide an apparatus by the use of which it will be possible to spread the material over a. wider surface than is possible with machines heretofore known. Another object of the invention is to provide means whereby the machin-e may be easily arranged to effect spreading of the material to any desired width, and a further object of theinvention is to provide an apparatus which will render the use of the usual burm boards unnecessary. Other objects will incidentally appear in the course of the following description. The invention is illustrated in 'the accompanying drawings and will be hereinafter fully described, the novel features.

being subsequently pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of an apparatus embodying my present improvements;

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged plan view of`a por tion of one side of the apparatus; y

Fig. 4 is an enlarged side elevation, partly broken away, of the rear end of the apparatus;

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 3 and showing the machine arranged to effect a wider [spread than is obtained in the arrangement shown in Fig. 3;l

Fig. (V is an enlarged sectional elevation of'an outlet portion of the storage bin with the flexible spout or chute connected there- 'with' v 7 is amdetail rear elevati-on ofa 'por-- tion of the apparatus arranged as in Fig. 5.

a truck 1 which ,may be of any convenient detail construction, and uponthistruck I .mounta motor 2.(which is indicated conventionally and maybe of any well-.known internal combustion type. The truck is provided with supporting wheels 3l at its front vfend andA at its rear end is yprovided with ground wheels 4 secured upon an axle 5 which is utilized as a power shaft. A. sprocket gear 6 is secured upon lthe shaft or axle 5 and is operatively connected by a chain 7 with a pinion 8 driven directly by thc motor, as will be readily understood upon reference to Fig. 1. The machine may thus be driven forwardly, over the road to be repaired, under its own power.

Upon the rear portion of the truck, I erect standards 9 which are suitably braced and which support a bin 10. The bottom of this bin is inclined downwardly and rearwardly, and discharge openings 11 are formed in the bin to establish direct communication between the interior of the bin and llexible spouts or chutes 12 which are secured to and depend therefrom, the said chutes being equipped at their lower discharge ends with handles 13 whereby they may he shifted manually, as will be readily understood, to deposit the material in the manner desired. The flow from the bin into the chutes is controlled by sliding cut-offs 14 which are adjusted through levers or handles 15 pivotally mounted upon the rear side of the bin and connected with the cutoffs by links 16.

Secured upon the truck at the front end thereof are posts or ystandards 17 which snpport the lower ends of inclined tracks 18 extending upwardly and rearwardly and terminating at their upper ends in arcuate portions 19. Racks 2O are formed upon the front sides of these tracks to be engaged by pinions V21 securedupon the ends of a shaft 22 which extends transversely of the machine in advance of the tracks. A hopper 23 is mounted upon the shaft 22 through bearing brackets 24y and at the upper cor- 'ners of this hopper are secured brackets 25 1 equipped with rollers 26'en'gaging the under sides of the tracks to guide the hopper-in its travel. Between the ends ofthe shaft 22, I secure thereto a beveled gear 27 with which meshes a beveled pinion 28 on the front end of a telescopicshaft 29 which extends to a point adjacent-the powersh'aft 30 of the motor 2y and isV equipped at its rear end with a beveled pinion. 31 meshing with a beveled pinion`32 on the said shaft 30. A bracket 33 carries'bearings by whichv the rear end ofthe shaft 29 is supportedA from the shaftv 30 and the gears `31 and 32 are yheld. in mesh. As shown clearly in Figs. 1

and 2,'tl1e shaft 29 consists of* a rear hollow or tubular section and a forward section slidably engaged in the tubular section,

the said forward section and the bore of the rear section being provided with flat faces whereby the rotation of the rear section will be imparted directly to the front section. In the use of the apparatus, the road material is hauled to the point of use in trucks and these trucks are operated to dump the material into the hopper 23. The motor is then permitted to run so that the shaft 30 will be rotated and this rotation will be, of course, imparted to the shaft 29 and through said shaft to the pinion 28. The pinion 28 being in mesh with the gear 27 will, of course, rotate the shaft 22 and the pinions 21 will be thereby caused to roll upwardly on the tracks 20. Inasmuch as the tracks 20 are inclined and straight, all points. in the length thereof are not the same distance from the shaft 30 and it is. therefore, necessary to provide for elongation and shortening of the shaft 29 which is accomplished by the telescopic construction shown and ]ust described. Inasmuch as the racks are stationary, the rotation imparted to the shaft 27 will cause the pinions 2l to travel upwardly on the racks, and this travel will cause the shaft 29 to turn about the shaft 30 so that the operative engagement of all theparts will be maintained. The guide rollers 26 will follow the arcuate tracks presented by the terminals 19 so that, as the hopper reaches the upper ends of the tracks 20, it will be caused to swing forwardly over the same and discharge its contents into the bin l0. The width of the hopper is the same as the width of a standard hauling truck and, of course, as the material deposited in the hopper is discharged therefrom into the bin 10, it will spread so that the load will have a greater transverse dimension than if it were dumped directly upon the ground. If the machine be in use upon a relatively narrow road, the discharge chutes 12 may be swung toward each other or may be maintained upon lines extending at right angles to the rear side of the bin so that the material as delivered onto the road will not spread substantially beyond the sides of the bin. If, however, a greater width of spread is desired, all that needs to be done is to swing the lower discharge ends of the chutes outwardly to the proper degree.

Upon the rear cross I secure bearing brackets 35 and in the upper ends of said brackets I mount a transmission shaft 36. Upon this shaft, I secure a sprocket pinion 37 and a sprocket chain 38 is trained about said pinion and about a sprocket 39 secured upon the axle or shaft 5 substantially at the center of the same. Supported by the shaft 36 is a bottomless gage box consisting of end plates 40 and a beam 34`of the truck,-

back plate 41 extending between the rear edges ofV said end plates at the upper portions of the same. The end plates may be reinforced by lateral flanges or may be channel bars in order to possess the requisite strength and angle bars 42 may be secured upon the rear side of the back plate 41 along the upper and lower edges thereof to strengthen the same, as will be understood upon references to Figs. 1, 4 and 7. The end plates are fitted to the shaft 36 by brackets 43 having hub portions 44 encircling the shaft and retained thereon by stop collars 44, as clearly shown in the drawings. I also provide draft bars 45 which are pivotally attached at their front ends to lugs 46 'on collars 47 which encircle the shaft 36, and the rear ends of these draft bars provide bearings for trunnions 48 at the ends of beaters consisting of heads 49 and radial blades 50 secured to and extending between the heads. The inner draft bars 45 also carry bearings 5l for a short shaft 52, upon which is secured a gear 53 and a sprocket 54. A sprocket chain 55 is trained about the sprocket 54 and about a sprocket 56 on the shaft 36 so that the rotation of the latter shaft will be transmitted to the shaft 52. The gear 53 meshes with a pinion 57 fixed upon the combined trunnions at the inner ends of the beaters so that, as the machine is caused to travel forward, the beaters will be rotated to impinge against the upper portions of the material deposited upon the ground and thereby kick or shove the same forward so that the material will be evenly spread and the work of repairing the road expeditedn The beaters will obviously rotate at a higher speed thal. the ground wheels 4 of the truck and, consequently, will act upon the road material so as to overcome the tendency of the same to increase the draft upon the machine. Referring to Fig. 2, it will be noted that the inner ends of the beaters are spaced apart, although the beaters are in alinement, and the described gearing for operating the beaters is disposed betwen the inner ends of the same. To effect spreading ofthe material. along the central line of the machine and to prevent the central portion of the deposited material striking and choking the gearing, I secure to the inner draft bars 45 a V- shaped deiiector or divider 58 whereby the central portion of the material will be turned toward the sides and into the paths of the respective beaters. To effect vertical adjustment of the beaters, I provide screws 59 which are pivoted at their lower ends to the rear extremities 60 of the outer draft oars 45 and are fitted through guide brackets v61 secured upon the back plate 4l at the upper corners ofthe same. Nuts 62 are mounted upOn the screws and bear'llpOl the upper i30 I Sides of the brackets 6l so that by. adjusting Y beaters will be caused to operate at any desired height from the surface of the road.

' To the lower rear corners of the end plates .40, I secure shoes or 'runners 63 which support the end plates out of contact with the surface of the roadso that the formation of ruts by said end .plates will be avoided. I also secure to the inner sides of tle end plates'rearwardly and inwardly projecting Scrapers 64 whereby the loose stones or other material which may fall beyond the outer ends of the beaters will be deflected into the path cf the beaters and the proper spreading thereof will be effected. Of course, these scrapers 64l will be set at such height that stone or road material to the required depth may pass under them but the material deposited in excess of such height will be turned inwardly into the path of the beaters and will be thereby thrown forwardly so that it will find proper lodgn'rent upon the road. To the outer side of each end plate 40, I secure the rearwardly and outwardly1 projecting arms 65 and to the outer ends of Ysaid arms I secure a scraper 66 whereby the ldirt at the sides of the road will be reduced to a level and turned inwardly so that a proper gutter will be formed, and it may be noted at this point that the end plates 4() serve all the purposes of the usual burm' boards so that such elements are unnecessary when my .apparatus is being used.

If it be desired to spread material upon a road wider than the standard or prevailing width, the gage boxes are correspondingly widened, and .this widening is effect-ed by releasing the outer-"bearing brackets 35 and, shifting them outwardly to the extremities of the beam 34. A supplemental or auxiliary shaft section 6T is then brought into alinement with each end of the shaft 36 and engaged in the hub member 44 which constitutes a connection betwen the bracket 43 and the bracketi35, Vthe inner ends of this auxiliary shaft section being coupled to the ends of the shaft 36 by coupling sleeves 68, as shown in Fig. "5. An auxiliary back plate 69 is interposed between and connected with the -rear end ofthe side plate 40 and the back platev 41 therebysetting the gage box to a greater width. Obviously, if each side plate 40 be shifted outwardly one foot, an additional two-foot spread is'attained and ordinarily the supplemental shaft sections 67 and the supplemental back plate 69 will be provided in one foot lengths sufficient topermit the apparatus to effect spreads of eight feet, ten feet or twelve feet as may-be desired. Of course, the 'exact dimensions are immaterial and` other sizes may be adopted. lVhen the side plates are set outwardly to a greater extent in the manner described, the short Scrapers 64 are removed and longer Scrapers ,70 are substituted therefor so that the edge portions of the deposited road material will be spread evenly and .the surplus portions thereof will be deflected .into the path of the beaters in the manner previously set forth. In order that the outer ends of the extended shafts may be properly supported, I providebraces 71 which may be secured at their rear ends to the'brafikets 35 and at. their frontends to a gusset plate 72 carried by the outer ends of supporting arms 73 secured upon the side beams or sills of the truck. i As shown most clearly in Fig. 7, the auxiliary end plate 69 is reinforced 'by angle .bars 74 so spaced vertically that their inner ends, which project beyond the edge of the plate, vill fit between the bars 42011 the'end plate -0. zontal webs or flanges of the several bars to secure them together and rigidly connect and. support the auxiliary plates. If a second auxiliary end plate is to be added, the reinforcing angle bars thereon willbe disposed respectively above the up er bar 74 and below the lower bar T4, as in icated by the dotted lines in Fig. 7. i

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, it will be seen that I have provided a very compact and simple apparatus whereby the road repair material may be easily spread lin such widths as may be desired at the time it is desposited on the road and the labor incident to road repairing appreciably reduced. Heretofore it has been possible only to spread the material over a width approximately equal to the width of the hopper from which it passed onto the road and manual labor was employedto subsequently spread the material over a greater width, and frequently it was necessary to make repeated trips withl the. spreading machine in order to cover the road.

of material from the bin into the gage box,

a hopper supported upon the front side of the truck, and meansfor effecting upward Bolts 75 are inserted through the horibin mounted on the By my device, the material is deposited upon the road and travel of the hopper .and dumping -of the same to discharge material therein into the bin; y 2. In -an apparatus for the purpose set forth, a truck, a bin thereon, a hopper, means for effecting travel of the hopper whereby to discharge its contents into the bin, ya gage box carried by the truck below and in rear of the bin, flexible chutes in communication with and depending from the hopper to effect spread of material discharged from the bin within the gage box, rotatable beaters mounted at the rear of the gage box, and means driven from the truck for rotating said beaters to effect even spread of material deposited in the gage box.

3. In an apparatus for the purpose set forth, a truck, a gage box carried by the rear end of the truck, means mounted on the truck for delivering material into the gage box and spreading the `same as it is delivered, draft bars connected with the rear end of the truck and extending therefrom within the gage box', beaters carried by the rear ends of said draft bars, means driven from the truck for rotatingsaid beaters, and means lnounted on the gage box for vertically adjusting the beaters.

4. In an apparatus for the purpose set forth, a truck, a gage box connected with the rear end of the truck, axially alined beaters mounted in the gage box at the rear thereof and spaced at their inner ends, draft bars extending rearwardly from the truck and supporting the said beaters, means operatively connected with the inner ends of the beaters for rotating the beaters, a deflector carried by some of said draft bars in advance of and adjacent the inner ends of the beaters, and Scrapers carried by the sides of the gage box and projecting inwardly and rearwardly therefrom toward the outer ends of the beaters.

5. In an apparatus for the purpose set forth, a truck, a gagev box connected with the rear end of the truck, means on the truck for depositing material in the gage box, beaters mounted in the gage box at the rear thereof, means for rotating said beaters, Scrapers extending inwardly from the ends of the gage box toward the outer ends of the beaters, and rearwardly and outwardly extending scrapers carried by the outer sides of the ends of the gage box.

6. In an apparatus for the purpose set forth, the combination of a gage box, means for drawing the box over a road, a rotary beater mounted within the box at the rear end thereof, and Scrapers mounted in the box in advance of the beater and converging rearwardly toward the ends of the beater.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

ICDIVARD C. GLEDHILL. [n s] 

